[alert variation=”alert-info”]Publisher: Jody Sherry
Formats: Kindle
Purchase: Powell’s | Amazon | IndieBound | Barnes & Noble | iBooks[/alert]
The Prince of the Seas by Jody Sherry is a book about physical and metaphysical journey. The story takes place in 1866 and the events begin on board a submarine called Nautilus. This detail and the name Nemo immediately brings to mind Jules Verne’s Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea. Such a direct association probably isn’t really essential but it grabs your attention from the first sentence.
Sherry’s Captain Nemo is an exiled ruler of one of many provinces in Hindustan that is now under British control. Ketan Nemo is his teenage nephew. Ketan has spent most of his life underwater on board the Nautilus and knows practically nothing about his family’s tragic past. For Ketan his uncle is a teacher, an example of a great man and an absolute authority. Hi nephew’s safety is Captain’s Nemo first priority which is why Ketan hasn’t been allowed to go up to shore on any populated land. Sworn never to return to his country, Captain Nemo goes to his kingdom when an emergency calls him there and he takes Ketan with him.
“No one… Ketan Nemo, not Ketan….He realized he didn’t know his full name, the one that connected him to this land. The one he was born with, the one he was meant to carry.”
This is a long and risky journey. They cross a big part of Hindustan from the southern shores to the north by foot, train, oxen carts and horses. Since Captain Nemo is a wanted by British authorities, they travel incognito and pretend to be ordinary people. Although Ketan has received a good education and learned how to navigate the sub, his main job has been to be a prince. He is a good boy, but he just doesn’t know how to behave on the land, especially in hostile surroundings. His naïve princely pride puts their small company in dangerous situations again and again. Trying to be brave, he often behaves foolishly. Readers will often wonder why no one has warned this innocent boy in advance. This book is a wonderful adventure through time and history. Many unpredictable discoveries are awaiting Ketan and readers in this exotic land.
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